M. Alba Perez

October, 2018

School of Engineering

Idaho State University

833 South 8th Avenue

Pocatello, ID 83209

(208) 282 5655

Education

3/99 – 9/03Ph. D. Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA.

9/97 – 3/99Masters of Science, Mechanical Engineering (MSME 1999), Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA.

9/86 – 6/92Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering (BSIE 1996), specialized in Mechanical Engineering, ETSEIB, UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalonia), Barcelona, Spain.

Experience

07/04 – presentAssistant Professor -- Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Idaho State University.

11/03 – 07/04Postgraduate Researcher -- Robotics and Automation Laboratory, UCI: applied research in kinematic synthesis. Professor: Prof. J. M. McCarthy.

3/99 – 9/03Research Assistant --- Robotics and Automation Laboratory, UCI: responsible for theoretical and applied research in the design of spatial mechanisms and robotic systems. Ph.D. advisor: Prof. J. M. McCarthy.

4/00 – 6/01Teaching Assistant, -- MAE 145: Theory of Machines and Mechanisms (Spring 2001, Spring 2000)--- Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, UCI, Course Professor: J. M. McCarthy.

9/99 – 12/99Teaching Assistant -- MAE 30: Applied Mechanics: Statics (Fall 1999)--- Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, UCI, Course Professor: T. S. Hristov.

4/99 – 6/99Teaching Assistant -- MAE 183: Computer Aided Mechanism Design (Spring 1999) --- Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, UCI, Course Professor: J. M. McCarthy.

3/97 – 8/97Design Engineer -- MAI, United Technologies Automotive. Design of housings for electrical automotive components. Contact address:Ctra. Igualada, km 1,5 Pol. Industrial - P.O. Box 106, 43800 Valls (Spain) Phone # 00.34. 977. 614 033.

12/96 – 3/97Design Engineer -- Bitron Industrie España, S.A. Design of temperature and pressure sensors for appliances and automotive industry. Contact address: Bitron Industrie España, C/ Ifni, 24 30, 08930 Sant Adria del Besos, Barcelona (Spain). Phone # 00.34.93.4620014

1/94 – 6/96Planning engineer -- Waste Agency, Departament de Medi Ambient, Catalonia, Spain. Supervisor: Mr. Carles Viñolas, head of the planning department. Development of the regional planning for the minimization, recycling and disposal of the industrial waste. Contact address: C/ Doctor Roux, 80, 08017 Barcelona (Spain). Phone # 00.34.93.5673300.

9/92 – 6/96Capstone Project -- Cybernetics Institute, ETSEIB, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Advisor: Dr. Luís Basañez Villaluenga. Mechanical design of a robotic platform system.

9/90 – 3/92Research & Teaching Activities -- Material Science Department, ETSEIB, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Advisor: Dr. Antoni Martinez. Characterization of mechanical properties of various polymers, use of machinery for casting and machining plastic materials.

Awards

  • ISU Faculty Research Committee Grant, Spring 2005, project: “Use of Robot Syntesis Theory for Characterization of Protein Kinematics”.
  • NSF Travel Grant to present paper: “Dual Quaternion Synthesis of a Parallel 2-TPR Robot,” Proc. of the Workshop on Fundamental Issues and Future Research Directions for Parallel Mechanisms and Manipulators, October 3-4, 2002, Quebec City, Quebec, CA.
  • Balsells Fellowship 1997-1999, two-year fellowship from the University of California, the government of Catalonia and the Balsells family, for pursuing graduate studies at the University of California, Irvine.

Ph.D. Dissertation

Dual Quaternion Synthesis of Constrained Robotic Systems: Constrained robotics systems are serial or parallel robots with less than six degrees of freedom. Dimensional synthesis is defined as the process of finding the link dimensions for a given task or set of tasks. In finite-position synthesis, we define the task as a finite number of positions that the robot must reach.

In my dissertation, a method for the kinematic synthesis of constrained robots is presented. It is based on the use of dual quaternions to construct the kinematics equations of the robot from a reference position and to equate them to a set of task positions. The design equations produced using this methodology can be solved numerically for both the link dimensions and the joint variables. The use of Clifford algebras seems to yield better-structured equations, which have been further simplified to closed algebraic expressions in several cases. The results have been implemented in a computer-aided design program (Synthetica).

M.S. Project

Analysis and Design of Bennett Linkages. Bennett’s linkage was discovered by Bennett in 1903 and it is the only spatial 4R closed linkage with positive mobility.

In my Master’s thesis, I developed a new formulation to the synthesis of spatial RR chains based on the knowledge of the workspace generated by the Bennett’s linkage. The formulation gives simpler equations that can be solved to mathematically prove that the only two solutions for the RR chain form indeed a Bennett’s linkage. In addition, following the same formulation, the relation between Bennett’s linkage and its set of relative displacements was characterized.

B.S. Project

Design of a Platform for robotic tasks. My B.S. project consisted on the development of a robotic platform to work in coordination with a manipulator arm. The platform had two translational degrees of freedom plus two pure rotations whose axes lay on the surface of the platform. The complete design included kinematics and dynamics analysis, CAD detailed design, and selection of materials and components.

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles
  1. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Clifford Algebra Exponentials and Planar Linkage Synthesis Equations”, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design (in press).
  2. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Geometric Design of RRP, RPR and PRR Serial Chains”, Mechanism and Machine Theory (in press).
  3. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Dual Quaternion Synthesis of Constrained Robotic Systems”, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 126(3): 425-435, 2004.
  4. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Dimensional Synthesis of Bennett Linkages,” ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 125(1): 98-104, March 2003.
  5. Collins, C.L., McCarthy, J.M., Perez, A. and Su, H., “The Structure of an Extensible Java Applet for Spatial Linkage Synthesis,” ASME Journal of Computing and Information Science and Engineering, 2(1): 45-49, 2002.
  6. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Bennett’s Linkage and the Cylindroid,” Mechanism and Machine Theory, 37(11): 1245-1260, November 2002.

Refereed Conference Proceedings:

  1. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Sizing a Serial Chain to Fit a Task Trajectory Using Clifford Algebra Exponentials”, 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, April 18-22, 2005, Barcelona.
  2. Perez, A., Su, H.J. and McCarthy, J.M., “Synthetica 2.0: Software for the Synthesis of Constrained Serial Chains”, 2004 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Salt Lake City, September 2004.
  3. Villa-Uriol, M.C., Kuester, F., Bagherzadeh, N., Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Kinematic Synthesis of Avatar Skeletons from Visual Data”, Advances in Robot Kinematics, June 2004, J. Lenarcic and C. Galletti, eds., Kluwer Academic Publishing, 2004.
  4. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Dimensional Synthesis of CRR Serial Chains”, ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Chicago, IL, September 2003.
  5. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Dimensional Synthesis of RPC Serial Robots”, International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2003, Coimbra, Portugal, June 2003.
  6. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Dual Quaternion Synthesis of a Parallel 2-TPR Robot,” Proc. of the Workshop on Fundamental Issues and Future Research Directions for Parallel Mechanisms and Manipulators, October 3-4, 2002, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
  7. Perez, A., McCarthy, J.M. and Bennett, B., “Dual Quaternion Synthesis of Constrained Robots,” Advances in Robot Kinematics, (J. Lenarcic and F. Thomas,eds.), pp. 443-452, Kluwer Academic Publ.,Netherlands, 2002.
  8. Perez, A., and McCarthy, J.M., “Dimensional Synthesis of Bennett Linkages,” Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Baltimore, MD, Sept. 10-13, 2000.
  9. Perez, A. and McCarthy, J.M., “Dimensional Synthesis of Spatial RR Robots,” Advances in Robot Kinematics, (J. Lenarcic and M.M. Stanisic, eds.), pp. 93-102, Kluwer Academic Publ., Netherlands, June 2000.

Presentations and Invited Seminars:

  • Tutorial, IEEE ICRA 2005 Conference: Robot Design Using Mechanism Synthesis Theory. Organizer: J.M. McCarthy. Speakers: J.M. McCarthy, Hai Jun Su, Alba Perez. April 2005.
  • Tutorial, ASME DETC 2004 Conference: Robot Design Using Mechanism Synthesis Theory. Organizer: J.M. McCarthy. Speakers: J.M. McCarthy, Hai Jun Su, Alba Perez. September 2004.

Invited seminar, College of Engineering, Idaho State University: Research and Teaching in the Design of Mechanical Systems. April 2004.

Invited seminar,Loyola Marymount University: Design of Flexural Joints. February 2004.

Invited seminar, Catholic University of America: Dual Quaternion Synthesis of Constrained Robotic Systems. December 2003.

Teaching

Courses Taken

Mathematics: Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Abstract Algebra, Algebraic Geometry, Projective Geometry, Differential Geometry, General Topology, Optimization.

Control Theory: Linear Systems, Geometric Nonlinear Control, Nonlinear Feedback Control, Dynamical Systems.

Robotics: Kinematics, Dynamics, Spatial Mechanisms Design, Biorobotics.

Software Experience

C++, Java, Unix, OS X, Mathematica, Maple, Matlab.

Special Topic Courses

Spring 1998Differential Geometry in Kinematics. Lecture on instantaneous kinematics in the hypersphere.

Fall 1999Algebraic Geometry in Kinematics. Lecture on dimension of algebraic varieties.

Fall 2000Biorobotics. Lecture on identifying spinal systems as a response to spinal cutaneous stimulation.

Winter 2002Microsystem Design. Design of a capacitive accelerometer.

Fall 2002Geometric Methods in Mechanics. Lecture on symmetries of dynamical systems and Noether’s Theorem.

Teaching Experience

Courses Taught:

Spring 2005Machine Design: Design of mechanical components subject to static and fatigue loads. Design using screws, fasteners, springs, bearings, and welds. Computer-aided design using finite element methods. College of Engineering, Idaho State University.

Mechatronics: Basic kinematics, sensors, actuators, measurements, electronics, microprocessors, programmable logic controllers, feedback control, robotics and intelligent manufacturing. College of Engineering, Idaho State University.

Fall 2004Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery: Kinematic analysis and design of cams, gears, and linkages; velocity, acceleration and force analysis; kinematic synthesis; balancing; computer-aided analysis and synthesis. College of Engineering, Idaho State University.

Measurement Systems Laboratory: Principles of measurement, standards and accuracy, detectors and transducers, digital data acquisition, signal conditioning systems and devices, statistical concepts in measurement, experimental investigation of engineering systems.College of Engineering, Idaho State University.

Teaching Assistant:

Spring 2001Theory of Machines and Mechanisms (undergraduate required course). Teaching Assistant. Preparing and presenting lectures in class and in discussion sessions; assisting in preparation and grading of homework and exams; introducing Mathematica to assist homework solutions.

Spring 2000Theory of Machines and Mechanisms (undergraduate required course). Teaching Assistant. Presenting lectures in discussion sessions, grading exams and advising students on homework solutions.

Fall 1999Applied Mechanics: Statics (undergraduate required course). Teaching Assistant. Preparing and presenting lectures in discussion sessions, grading exams and advising students on homework solutions.

Spring 1999Computer Aided Mechanism Design (undergraduate technical elective). Teaching Assistant. Presenting lectures in discussion sessions, grading homework and exams and advising students on homework and test preparation.

Teaching Goals

Graduate courses: mathematical methods in kinematics, analysis and synthesis of robotic systems.

Undergraduate technical elective courses: design of mechanisms and robots, mechatronics.

Undergraduate required courses: linear algebra, statics, dynamics, linear control, theory of machines, solid and structural mechanics.

Research

Current Research Lines

(see my webpage, , for details)

Application of the dual quaternion synthesis methodology to different kinematic systems:

  • Identification and prediction of conformational changes in proteins and other macromolecular systems.
  • Application of robot kinematics to human motion.
  • Construction of spatial mechanisms based on closed-loop spatial chains.
  • Computational efficiency of the Clifford algebra description of robot kinematics.
  • Application of closed-loop over-constrained spatial mechanisms to morphing structures.

Future Research

I would like to pursue, among others, the following new lines of research:

  • Application of the synthesis theory to the design of micromechanical systems to achieve spatial tasks.
  • Further application of the kinematic synthesis to identify kinematic structures from visual data (images and video data).
  • Exploration of the theoretical aspects of the synthesis of parallel robots.
  • Exploration of the relation between rigid and non-rigid transformations for application in compliant mechanical systems.